Times change, but kids don’t. Not when it comes to hitting up Santa Claus for Christmas loot.
This year’s hottest toys include the latest version of Barbie’s Dreamhouse (she’s been renovating and upgrading that place since 1962), the Sesame Street Elmo “slide” dancing doll and a game called — no joke — Monkey See, Monkey Poo. (We’ll just leave that there.)
While the gifts children asked for in the past differed markedly from today’s TV-, movie- and video game-themed toys, the general idea of the Christmas letter to Santa remains the same: get hold of the latest popular playthings and remember that the Man With The Bag is tasked with making said deliveries, so don’t hold back when asking for... well... everything.
In 2023, kids still want toys, toys and more toys, something that hasn’t changed over the past 118 years, when the Constitution did its part to assist Santa and his elves in making sure youngsters’ letters made it to the North Pole from Atlanta, the rest of Georgia and, yes, even over in Alabama. The paper regularly asked readers to submit Santa letters in the weeks leading up to Christmas and, when possible, sought photos of the boys and girls who took time to write to Kris Kringle.
Credit: AJC PHOTO ARCHIVES
Credit: AJC PHOTO ARCHIVES
Here’s a smattering of only a few requests printed in the Dec. 24, 1905, edition of the Constitution — just to make triple-sure Santa saw who wanted what, where to get it and why it’s important to remember others’ wishes, too, when St. Nick is about to get airborne.
Youngsters grow up so fast — so fast that they want some wheels of their own, pronto. Out with the old, rickety landaus and phaetons and in with the new horseless carriages, Louise Felker said:
“Monroe, Ga. — Dear Santa Claus: I won’t ask you for much this Christmas. Please bring me a set of furniture for my doll. I want an automobile and some nuts and candy, oranges and apples.”
The old joke ‘I want a pony’? No laughing matter. Not to Charles R. Rey, who lived at 49 Windsor Street in Atlanta:
“My Dear Santa Claus: Please bring me a Shetland pony. I am a little boy 5 years old. With much love for you and wishing you a Merry Christmas, I am your little friend.”
Ed Littleton of Starksville, Ga., wanted a pet of his own and he had specific delivery instructions for Santa:
“Dear Santa Claus: Please send me a ‘possum dog and a flute and a box of sucker hooks. If you can’t get the dog down the chimney, please tie him in the yard with a rope and then put the sucker hooks and the flute in my stocking.”
A four-footed friend having difficulty penning its own letter to Santa Paws (or Santa Claws) got help from William Henry White, Jr., of Gadsden, Ala., who was planning a Christmas feast for boy and beast:
“Dear Santa: I want you to come to see me full handed. I want 1 pound of fancy candy, 1 pound nuts, package firecrackers, 10 roman candles, 1 bundle fodder and 8 ears of corn for my billy goat.”
Credit: AJC PHOTO ARCHIVES
Credit: AJC PHOTO ARCHIVES
Sometimes Santa finds that kids’ gifts to him are just loaners. That’s what Fannie Nash of 15 Kennedy Street in Atlanta made clear:
“I send you my picture, made five or six years ago. Please return it.”
Over in Andalusia, Ala., Idalee Riley made sure Jolly Old St. Nick wasn’t worried about scorching his snowy white beard:
“I will put the fire out, so you can come down the chimney,” Idalee said, adding, “I forgot to tell you I wanted some fireworks.”
Meanwhile, in Gibson, Ga., the struggle was real (as the kids now say) to keep a gift out of certain hands:
“Dear Santa Claus: Please bring me one pair of leather leggings, one watch, one toy ball, one tool chest, also bring little sister a doll so she won’t be wanting mine. -- Cecil Whiteley”
Santa received a sweet note from Blyde Petty in Covington, who was already set on a future career path:
“Dear Santa Claus: I am an orphan 12 years old and I hope I am not too old for you to come to see me. I like to go to school, and I am in the seventh grade, but I live 1 1/2 miles out, so I want you to send me a bicycle, so when I get grown I can be a teacher. If you send me the bicycle, Santa Claus, I won’t have to walk, so please send me the bicycle. Your little friend. P.S. — Don’t forget my address and the bicycle.”
Certainly Mr. Claus got a chuckle when reading Atlantan Johnny Thraser’s missive:
“I don’t want to be greedy. I want you to bring me a train and a fire wagon and some apples and candy and some nuts. I will cease for this time.”
When Kirkwood was considered a bit out of the city proper, May Belle Clarke pointed out to Santa that a country girl’s list is special:
“Dear Santa Claus: I don’t want you to bring the same things you have been bringing me, like dolls and doll carriages. I want a gun so I can shoot rabbits. You may bring me a nurse if you have one to nurse my dolly when I go hunting and a large express wagon if you have plenty of them. Santa, don’t think I am a tomboy, but I live in the country and need all these things.” May Belle was quick to add the following: “P.S. — Of course I will expect the usual amount of confectionaries.”
Here’s a unique request from Mary Alice McMillan of 122 Park Street in West End, who knew fine fashion and was set to return to school after Christmas in high style:
“Dear Santa Claus: I want a long kimono, a pair of bed room slippers to match and a rain coat, some handkerchiefs ... and a lot of good things.”
After going through so many letters, it’s a good bet Santa appreciated the brevity of this dispatch from Jessie Lee Nixon in Eastman:
“Dear Santa Claus: I have been sick in bed, but I am up now. Well, I suppose you are tired of reading this hen scratching.”
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